Retail brands versus manufacturer brand attributes: An exploratory investigation

Citation

Zainuddin A & Burt S (2007) Retail brands versus manufacturer brand attributes: An exploratory investigation. Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics, 10 (1), pp. 1-8.

Abstract
One of the most recent innovations in retail strategy in Malaysia is the introduction of retail (or private) brands. Retail brands may bear the name of the retailer selling them, such as 'Giant', 'Tesco' and 'Carrefour', or may be sold under an entirely different name such as 'Aro' (Makro). Two of the largest hypermarket chains in Malaysia, Giant and Tesco, have taken different approaches to retail brand developments. Despite being a long established player in the market, the 'Giant' retail brand has only recently become available. In contrast Tesco, a relatively new entrant to the market, has launched two of its established UK retail brands 'Tesco' and 'Tesco-Value'. Using systematic random sampling via store-intercept techniques, this study investigates how 1000 consumers of the two chains view these different types of retail brand and manufacturer brands. Results show that Malaysian customers perceive manufacturer brands more favourably than retail brands. They perceive clear distinctions between the attributes of the manufacturer brand and those of retail brand, and in particular rate the manufacturer brand higher on the "traditional" indicators of quality, value and extrinsic cues. The results also suggest that the dual retail brand approach adopted by Tesco has caused some confusion amongst Malaysian shoppers. Whilst the Tesco-Value brand proposition appears to be clearly communicated and understood by consumers, the relative positioning of the Tesco brand itself is more confused and blurred.

Keywords
Attributes; Hypermarkets and Malaysia; Perceptions; Retail Brands

Journal
Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics: Volume 10, Issue 1

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Professor Steve Burt

Professor, Marketing & Retail